Healthcare & Life Sciences

Austria - Preslmayr Attorneys at Law

While there are signs of greater liberalisation with respect to hemp use internationally, the Austrian government has resisted this trend. In October 2018 the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Health and Consumer Protection published a decree outlining its legal opinion on product regulations which prohibit CBD use in food and cosmetics. However, rather than providing legal certainty, the decree merely reflects headlines relating to the government's narcotics programme.

Canada - Smart & Biggar

In 2018 the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed Apotex's appeal of a judicial review decision of the Therapeutic Products Directorate (TPD), finding that the Federal Court made no reviewable error in its conclusion that the TPD's decision was not improperly motivated. The Supreme Court recently dismissed Apotex's application for leave to appeal.

Canada - Smart & Biggar

The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board recently announced the publication of the 2017 edition of Meds Entry Watch. According to the notice, this publication provides information on new medicines entering Canadian and international markets and examines the availability, sales, uptake, pricing and treatment costs of new medicines that were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, the European Medicines Agency and Health Canada in 2016 and 2017.

South Africa - ENSafrica

A recent European Court of Justice ruling on the status of organisms obtained by new breeding techniques as genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has again brought the scope of the South African GMOs Act into question. The difficulty with regulating organisms created through such techniques is that these organisms may be indistinguishable from organisms which have naturally evolved.

Mexico - Sanchez DeVanny Eseverri SC

Upcoming event

31 May - 1 June 2019 – Philadelphia, USA

This year's event will feature dynamic roundtable sessions, as well as concurrent sessions covering the hottest topics and the latest developments from across the different sectors of the life sciences industry.

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